


to burn hell

by halfwheeze



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Demon!Pepper, F/M, M/M, Multi, Protective Pepper Potts, Vague depictions of violence, blood mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-28 09:10:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18206450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfwheeze/pseuds/halfwheeze
Summary: in which pepper is a protective demon who is in love with tony stark, and maybe that's just the life they lead.





	to burn hell

**Author's Note:**

> all thanks to certain members of the winteriron groupchat - you know who you are!
> 
> hope you guys enjoy!

It may just be a couple of centuries of being in a female form on this planet, but Pepper Potts does not like to see men in a group. Maybe that’s a little too cautious of her, but, well. Bad things tend to happen when groups of men back demons into corners. 

“He’ll be easy, you know. Anybody can get Tony Stark to roll over if you stroke his ego hard enough. We just need to get his mega bitch CEO out of the room for a minute, and he’ll do anything we want. We’ll get what we want,” one of these men, one of these  _ worthless  _ businessmen says, and Pepper grits her teeth. She steps forward with the click of her heels warning of her presence and she relishes in the little startle of fear, the first indication that primally, someone here knows exactly what is going on. 

"No," she says calmly, breaking into the conversation, "No, you won't. You will not touch Tony Stark. You will never say his name again. You will leave and you will not come back." Her startling calm seems to break into the absolute state of some of the collected men, smarmy and overconfident as they are, and they struggle to collect their things and rush out of the door, not tempting the dark desire that runs through this vessel's body. She made this meat suit herself, and it might as well feel just as angry as she does. How  _ dare  _ they speak about her boy, her golden,  _ perfect  _ boy like that? How dare they pretend to know? 

The ones who do not leave quickly understand why they should have, and Pepper smiles as she rips them apart. She’s always one to whistle while she works, after all, and it shouldn’t do well to frown while doing work she actually loves. 

Pepper wipes the blood off of her nails and doesn't say a word to Tony; he doesn't need to know, after all. He's better off when he thinks that people just leave him alone after a while, thinking that the world is a better place than it is, thinking humans are worth all of the sunshine brightness that he puts out like it's going out of style. The demon who shines the world for him gets her nails redone on the company credit card and Tony tells her that she deserves it for putting up with him. She keeps her response behind elongated teeth, because Tony has never been good at hearing that he is the best part of this world that she has grown accustomed to, the one that she never planned to stay in at all. 

“So what’s the scoop?” Tony asks as she comes back in, hauling blueberries into his mouth as if the species is going to suddenly become extinct, and Pepper tries to control her fondness. While some would say that demons cannot be fond, Pepper would like to introduce whomever would say that to Anthony Edward Stark, and see if they would still be able to come to the same conclusion. 

“Penis,” she replies quietly, rolling her eyes, because Tony has been on a kick with these  _ vine compilations  _ that Peter has been sending him, and Pepper is nothing if not indulgent. She sits on the edge of his desk, not out of any particular desire to inspire any sexual attraction, but rather because she just wants to be close to her human. He provides a sense of warmth that not even being a literal hellspawn can provide, and the worst part of it is is that she knows that Tony would deny it if told. Her little human thinks so little of himself, and she would kill the men who made him think so if one wasn’t dead before she ever met Tony, and the other she hadn’t already killed with her own hands. 

“No, seriously, Pep, what’s up? We still having a meeting or did you chase them off with your stilettos? Want Italian for lunch? I bet Rhodey’s in town! We can call him up, get Gino’s? Or we can go for something classier, you definitely look the part, gorgeous, and no betting against the house that honeybear is gonna show up in full dress, so it’d just be me looking out of sorts with a blazer, and I’m  _ Tony Stark,  _ so it’s not like it matters,” Tony rambles, adorable in the way that he gestures, and Pepper catches one of his hands in hers, linking their fingers together delicately. 

“Pizza to the tower? Movies with Rhodey?” she offers because she knows it’s something Tony likes, and it’s something that Pepper likes as well. James Rhodes is the only other human that she likes, that she loves. Where Tony is perfectly made of light, always putting out another beam of it, James is perfectly made of warmth. If she didn’t know better, if she couldn’t see the imprint of wings on those who were, Pepper would think that James was an angel. Tony grins and stands, nosing along her cheek to show his affection like a house cat, and Pepper loves him. He’s the best thing that she could ever ask for from the universe, and she provides him a soft smile before standing as well. 

“Call our driver, I’ll call in the pizza,” Tony confirms with a wink, already setting up the uplink with FRIDAY by tapping the Bluetooth at his ear. It’s not actually a Bluetooth, but rather some suped up Stark product that Pepper is very proud of her human for creating, but not so dedicated to know exactly what it is called. She simply markets the products, takes care of the management of employees; she is not a part of the R&D department. If either of them takes to the lab, it’s Rhodey. He has a much better handle on technology and science than Pepper does, and she can’t bear to see either of them at risk anyway. 

She learned to love James Rhodes a long time ago, when she had only just met Tony. Rhodes protected Tony long before Pepper ever had the chance, and there was no way that he could see the light just beneath Tony’s breastbone (before damage had modified her Tony, before the light was put on the outside for the whole world to see). James just loved Tony to  _ love  _ him, to understand him, and Pepper loves him for that. She’s come to love him for himself as well, but Tony was the first step, as he is in many things. 

He’s the reason she’s more human, after all. 

She would have flickered between this world and the land of the dead and demons if he hadn’t grown attached, if his light hadn’t dimmed when she left, if he had loved her less. Instead, she watches over him and loves him, and loves the man who loves him, and eats pizza and watches romcoms and  _ laughs.  _

Tony Stark may not be the reason she exists, but he may damn well be the reason she  _ lives.  _

**Author's Note:**

> hope you liked it! if you enjoyed it, feel free to leave kudos, leave comments, or to prompt me either @halfwheeze on tumblr or in the comments!


End file.
